Companion A-List

[HDo85o]

My partner and I are both A-list members, he is also my Companion pass holder on my account. When we make a reservation and check-in, our boarding numbers are very far away from each other. Tomorrow, for instance, my boarding spot is in the low 20's, whereas my companion is 20-30 spots after me. Again, we both have A-list and I add the companion reservation within seconds of completing my own. I don't understand why we don't board closer?

[dfwskier]

It's a matter of what goes on inside the boarding position black box computer.

If there are 75 a-listers with reservations on a flight, what determines who gets A16 and who gets B30? I'm sure there is some algorithm that determines the answer to that question.

Ticket bought time doesn't seem to matter, but your example seems to indicate that companion pass ticket holders are down the totem pole from paying passengers when it comes to boarding position allocation - at least yours was.

[chgoflyer]

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@HDo85o wrote:

My partner and I are both A-list members, he is also my Companion pass holder on my account. When we make a reservation and check-in, our boarding numbers are very far away from each other. Tomorrow, for instance, my boarding spot is in the low 20's, whereas my companion is 20-30 spots after me. Again, we both have A-list and I add the companion reservation within seconds of completing my own. I don't understand why we don't board closer?

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I suspect there's something wrong with Southwest's systems that overrides the A-List positioning when that person travels as a companion.

Anyone traveling with an A-Lister on the same reservation is supposed to receive a consecutive boarding position as the A-Lister, unless that person is traveling on a companion pass. I suspect that part is somehow negating your partner's A-List status.

I'd recommend reaching out to Customer Relations for an explanation, preferable when you have recent flight info to share.

[TheMiddleSeat]

Agree, something does not sound right here, that's too big of a spread for flights that probably don't have that many A-List flyers on them. First thing to check before calling, does the boarding pass actually show A-List status? Simplest answer is A-List did not get applied. Is reservation missing the companion's RR number? Is this the companion's first flight as your companion? 

--TheMiddleSeat

[gsking]

One criterion for boarding position is the price of your ticket.   Since a companion passenger pays ZERO,  it stands to reason that companions board later.   

You will still both get your own three seats,  so not much to worry about. 

[TheMiddleSeat]

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@gsking wrote:

One criterion for boarding position is the price of your ticket.   Since a companion passenger pays ZERO,  it stands to reason that companions board later.   

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I don't believe that criteria has ever been proven or stated by Southwest. In fact, as @chgoflyer said, recent changes actually specify the companion should have a sequential boarding position so the free ticket has nothing to do with it. 

--TheMiddleSeat

--TheMiddleSeat

[chgoflyer]

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@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

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@gsking wrote:

One criterion for boarding position is the price of your ticket.   Since a companion passenger pays ZERO,  it stands to reason that companions board later.   

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I don't believe that criteria has ever been proven or stated by Southwest. In fact, as @chgoflyer said, recent changes actually specify the companion should have a sequential boarding position so the free ticket has nothing to do with it. 

--TheMiddleSeat

--TheMiddleSeat

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This is actually a bit complicated...

The March 2020 policy update gives priority boarding to anyone on the same itinerary as an A-Lister. (Many may have not known about this, since, to put it one way, there was a lot going on in March.)

Companions, flying on a Companion Pass, however, cannot be on the same itinerary as anyone else, because that's not how the system works. Southwest's systems give the companion their own confirmation number when their reservation is added to the CP holder's booking. It's odd, but that's how it works. (For now at least. One hopes it might be changed in the future so that CP holder and Companion are on the same itinerary.)

That said, in the OP's example, the Companion is also an A-Lister. Meaning they should have received their own individual A-List benefits on the booking. Given a "20-30" position difference, it's unlikely that they did.

Hopefully a quick call to Customer Relations can shed some light on the situation.

[LTC33]

Jumping into the conversation here about boarding position for companions.  My companion is my now 10 year old daughter.  I don't fly enough anymore to get A List, so no special boarding positions for us.  Because they don't consider us to  be flying on the same itinerary, our boarding positions can frequently be very far apart.  Most of the time, there's no issue when she boards with me despite being far apart in position and sometimes in a different letter group.  But not always....I have had a gate attendant try to tell us we couldn't board together, despite her age.  Being an anxious kid, she sometimes gets really worried about the gap in our positions, fearing that we wouldn't get to sit together.  Would be nice if Southwest would just treat a companion as flying on the same itinerary and check in the companion at the same time as the sponsor.  

[chgoflyer]

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@LTC33 wrote:

Jumping into the conversation here about boarding position for companions.  My companion is my now 10 year old daughter.  I don't fly enough anymore to get A List, so no special boarding positions for us.  Because they don't consider us to  be flying on the same itinerary, our boarding positions can frequently be very far apart.  Most of the time, there's no issue when she boards with me despite being far apart in position and sometimes in a different letter group.  But not always....I have had a gate attendant try to tell us we couldn't board together, despite her age.  Being an anxious kid, she sometimes gets really worried about the gap in our positions, fearing that we wouldn't get to sit together.  Would be nice if Southwest would just treat a companion as flying on the same itinerary and check in the companion at the same time as the sponsor.  

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Agreed, that Companions should be able to board with the CP holder.

Technically, in your situation, you are both supposed to board at the later position. It's an odd policy.

[elijahbrantley]

@HDo85o Did your companion’s ticket have their Rapid Rewards number and A List designation on the boarding pass?